Tag: statistics in sport

In November 2012 I wrote about the use of statistics in football, and the backlash against them, for the now defunct Bornoffside.net. You can read the article in its original context via the Wayback Machine, or by scrolling down. Some of my examples feel a bit dated, but otherwise I’d stand by what I wrote.

Over recent years, the use of statistics in sport has become increasingly common. Match of the Day and Sky Sports routinely present us with the basic stats at the end of matches – shots, shots on targets, fouls, etc. These stats are useful, insightful to a point. Even if you see the stats at the bottom of a print media match report, you can get a sense of how balanced the match was, whether the winners deserved their win.

With players away from their clubs for the international break, I’ve looked at an English player who never seems to be even mentioned as a possible international – West Ham’s Mark Noble.

Mark Noble, preparing to launch a cross into a penalty area populated mainly by sentient socks. Possibly.

Writing for Squawka, I’ve looked at Noble’s strengths: creating chances for team-mates; keeping play ticking over by consistently maintaining possession; his talents as a defender and his all-round consistency.

If reading about the all-round consistency of a footballer who plays for a team you probably don’t support doesn’t sound like a good time, then I’m very sorry, and I’ll try and entertain you more next time.

However, it’s a look back to the last Premier League season, so nothing’s out of date. I looked at Reading striker Adam Le Fondre, looking at when he’s scored his goals, whether he was better deployed from the bench or when starting – basically an overall look at his season.

Adam Le Fondre, earlier in his career. Between matches, I think.

With Le Fondre being a major part of Reading’s campaign to return to the top flight, as well as being linked with moves to Leeds, Hull and Leicester, he should be a key player for someone next season.

In October, with QPR rock bottom of the Premier League, Mark Hughes was replaced as manager by Harry Redknapp.

Despite some big name signings in the summer who’d be underperforming under Hughes (Jose Bosingwa, Esteban Granero) existing talent (Adel Taarabt, Djibril Cisse) and January signings of Redknapp’s (Chris Samba, Loic Remy), QPR went down. Redknapp is well known as a social guy with friends in the media, so the common angle has been that Redknapp couldn’t do enough to save them.

Maybe SeagullMan could have saved QPR?

But how true is this? Writing for Squawka, I’ve taken a statistical look at different parts to QPR’s style of play, looking at how they’ve performed under both men.

New on Squawka today, I’ve taken a look at Manchester City’s captain, Vincent Kompany. Absolutely dominant last year as City inched ahead of Manchester United for the Premier League title, he’s looked a little disappointing to me this season.

Not bad in any way, just disappointing, compared to last year.

I’ve broken down the various aspects of his game, this year and last, looking for differences and similarities.

On Friday, nominations for the PFA Player of the Year award, and PFA Young Player of the Year award were announced – the winners will be announced at an event on April 29th.

Writing for Squawka in an article published yesterday, I’ve looked at what the Squawka Performance Scores have to say on the Premier League’s top young players, and looked deeper at Squawka’s statistical breakdowns, to see what else the stats have to say about the quality and style of the top 5 players.

Eden Hazard taking on Norwich defenders, while storing nuts in his cheeks.

The Squawka Top 5 young players has some of the same players the PFA members have nominated, but some that have been overlooked – this includes one tidy but not eye-catching player I like, who wasn’t nominated. More importantly, there’s no place for Danny Welbeck in the top 5, which I’d argue makes my/Squawka’s list more legitimate than the PFA’s.